I’ve lost count of how many times I almost forgot the humble poster tube. Whether it’s a mad dash between train platforms or an addled disembarkment after a red-eye flight, this brain takes its sweet time remembering that something is missing amongst my cellphone, backpack, overnight bag, and during graduate days, a travel guitar plus a brimmed hat. It’s tremendously fortunate that I’ve only needed to purchase one replacement tube so far,* with just my stuff inside.Since my ritualised self-administered patdown just doesn’t cover for low-incidence luggage, it’s time to upgrade to a less-bad solution. Enter the fabric poster. Folds away in a check-in luggage so that if the work is lost I’ve got far bigger things to worry about. My ultimate preference would be a large digital surface already waiting at the conference site, … but I think this would be way beyond our collective pay-grades.

In the meantime, I’ll be fielding questions on creases and colour-fastness, and taking bets on whether it will rip right off the board by Tuesday 2.30pm (this blanket is heavy, man).

Moral of the story being, try to spot other conference goers on your way in to San Francisco. The tell-tale sign is an oversized bazooka that always gets past security without a fuss. You can meet a new connection, and chances are you’ll remember your own research sitting forlornly in the overhead compartment.

* And one brimmed hat. The first incarnation survived many journeys after my first Pacific Rim tour. A friend in Japan mailed it to me, for which I was eternally grateful until a sleep-deprived bus commute into the heart of Sydney last year. This is the reason why drover hats have daggy chin straps.

--Poker Chen